Private Claw to Claw

[Lofdrrl]

Neutron Star II-series Bulk Cruiser Fiery Star, somewhere in deep space near Terminus

The hulking wookiee strolled down the hallway, oblivious to those around him. His sailors quickly parted in front of him, knowing that the alien would not move as much as a centimeter to avoid anything in his path. Behind him, T4-U2 awkwardly waddled behind him, offering quiet apologies to any the droid thought the captain might have offended. It was almost a fruitless gesture - Lofdrrl had relied on deception and intrigue as much as brute strength to keep everyone in line. Everyone knew it, it was only a question of who was getting played against who. He grumbled in Shyrii-wook as they entered the bulk cruiser's bridge.

Almost immediately, the second mate got out of the captain's chair and pretended to not have been in it all. He offered what the wookiee guessed was supposed to be a disarming smile.

"Ah, captain, I was just making sure the chair could swivel right. It seemed a bit stiff when I accidentally bumped it earlier. You come earlier than expected."

The wookiee growled, causing the protocol droid to translate for him.

"Captain Lofdrrl says it must be stiff from someone sitting in it too long. He says it was not him."

Not an exact translation...but the hint was good enough.

"Ah...I see captain," stammered the mate, "I'll be sure to keep an eye out for that. Anywho, there's no sign of our contact yet."

Lofdrrl bellowed for several seconds, briefly catching the gaze of several of the bridge crew before they pretended to be hard at work studying their console's readouts.

"Well, we are earlier than expected," translated T4-U2, "just in case they wanted to try surprise us with something unexpected. It's hard to trust another captain who flies the blazing claw."

Lirka Ka

 

[Lirka Ka]

Some would say the size of a Captain’s ship matters less than the size of a Captain’s character. Lirka lacked the former, immensely. A blip appeared of some sort of strange Ugly freighter, a mishmash of larger vessels smashed together. It certainly lived up to the classification of an ugly, and in truth it wasn’t a particularly impressive vessel. Nothing compared to the Fiery Star, but the pilot of the craft mattered far more than the freighter itself.

Lirka moved an armored claw and click3: her comms to life, a gruff distorted voice coming out: the only hint of whatever laid behind it was the thick, strange, alien accent.

“This is Ka, requesting to board.”

To the point at least, was she nervous? Maybe, but it would never show if she was. These were scum, and some would say there is honor among thieves.

At least, she hoped that’d be true this time around.

Lofdrrl

 

[Lofdrrl]

Among the perhaps more bestial sounds of the captains involved, an almost quaint and perhaps overly polished Core World -accented voice filled the comm waves back to Lirka Ka - that of T4-U2.

"Captain Ka, a most pleasant welcome to you and your crew. I am T4-U2, first mate of the Fiery Star. We are transmitting a flight path to your ship that will allow you to dock and meet us. Please do not deviate from this course, as some of our gunners may sometimes be a little enthusiastic about defending our home. We hope to make your acquaintance in person as soon as possible in order to benefit both of our livelihoods."

Lofdrrl stared hard at the droid. Sometimes he wondered what the now ancient droid's past was - perhaps a valet to a Coruscanti noble or senator? Was it as a translator for some businessman of an intergalactic conglomerate? He was terribly tempted sometimes to deactivate the manumitted droid and have an outlaw tech extract its memories - but he knew that doing so carried risks he wasn't willing to take. T4-U2 might lose his memory and thus not be a helpful first mate after such an operation. Or the droid might discover his duplicity, which could even be worse. The droid was one of the few people he could trust in life. He furrowed his brow at that thought - considering the droid a person rather than a thing. He made a few low murmurs to the protocol droid.

"Absolutely captain. We should go to the hangar bay to immediately meet them."

With that, the unlikely duo departed the bridge, leaving the second mate once again in charge.

 

[Lirka Ka]

One immediate thought popped into her mind: that droid talked too much. But she would be polite this time around, and simply listened. No point making quick enemies just because she had trouble holding her tongue.

“Acknowledged.”

And with that, she followed the the path laid out. When people could get a closer look at her freighter, the thing really was a piece of junk. Proper for an Ugly, of course. With a hiss and a whine, the vessel landed down in the Fiery Star’s Hangar. With another groan from the vessel as its landing dock lowered to the floor, another fact became quickly obvious. Lirka was a one man crew.

But as she stepped out, it was understandable why. Heavy footfalls followed her as she exited the craft, metal clashing on metal. Lirka was huge, a brick of metal and whirring mechanisms that made up her powersuit, large horns reached to the sky on her blank faced helmet, revealing none of the emotion of the beast that laid behind it. And finally, mag-locked to her back was a mighty blade, a great-machete of shorts that easily towered above most. When she finally spoke, the words were heavily distorted.

“A fine ship to be sure, it has been too long since I was able to set foot in a craft like this.”

A lie. But a little sweet talking rarely hurt, besides, not like the Wookiee needed to know about her dealings with the Sith.

Lofdrrl

 

[Lofdrrl]

The wookiee had assembled the best of his fighters around him to meet their guest. And by best, he meant the most intimidating. Cybernetically enhanced humans, a handful of fellow outcast wookiees, and a trio of down on their luck gamorrean gladiators. They were motley, and while individually decent fighters, they had no real coordination or high grade weapons to hope to take on well prepared military force on their own, they were usually more than enough to frighten most of their civilian prey. Yet the wookiee guessed that none of them would be able to take on Lirka Ka on their own. If they were others like her onboard the ship, the wookiee guessed that he had made a highly capable if potentially dangerous acquaintance - a good being to have on a fight on one's side, but danger if things did not work smoothly between the two.

Lofdrrl regarded the once-Sephi curiously, trying to size her up past pure initial appearances. Her ship itself didn't seem impressive on the outside, but the wookiee knew that appearances weren't everything - the poor appearance might very well be a ruse that disguised a highly capable craft. If that weren't the case, the seemingly cast-off craft could have been chosen because of its disposability in case things went south. Part of him wondered if it maybe contained a large bomb - a vessel that size could harbor a bomb big enough to severely damage and maybe even destroy his flagship.

The wookiee grumbled a few words, which the protocol droid quickly translated, with a few additions of his own.

"Chief Lofdrrl extends his most warm regards. We take pride in keeping a vessel like this in such fine condition...a testament to our captain's ability to retain a powerful benefactor. He similarly hopes that we will also be able to form a mutually beneficial relationship. If it pleases you, please follow us to the captain's cabin for a more private discussion. Was your journey here eventful?"

As they talked, the protocol droid began to lead the group deeper into the vessel, with the motley honor guard slowly peeling off to head to their usual haunts within the ship.

 

[Lirka Ka]

She addressed the gathered crowd of ruffians as one would address muck under their shoe, Lirka was never known to be particularly kind but when it came to dealing with the sort of trash she had murdered by the dozens during her long life, she thought even less of them than she did the majority of life in the Galaxy. But not like any of them would know that, not yet at least. Now was a time to be polite to her oh-so-gracious hosts.

She took one step forward, a simple play to show her lack of fear in front of the Wookiee and his men, before slightly turning her armored head to look towards the protocol droid, waiting for him to finish.

"And benefactors are oh so plentiful in the current state of the Galaxy, aren't they? I share your captain's hopes, Droid. But yes, let us go; there is no point in us loitering in the Hangar forever now is there?"

The mask of pleasantries slipped some, it was a facade Lirka could only keep up for so long before it became grating. Besides, it was just a droid after all. She began to follow, for how heavy her footfalls exiting from her craft seemed to be, the Sephi looked to intentionally having her boots move with as little noise as physically possible now.

"If only, alas I try to avoid the eventful where I can. Play on my own terms, I'm sure the good Captain understands."

And just like that, the mask returned.

Lofdrrl

 

[Lofdrrl]

Lofdrrl eyed Lirka Ka curiously. Running in a galaxy so large, in a business so motley, the wookiee had seen and met many strange and unusual people. Despite her intimidating visage, she seemed to have a certain elegance for in her choice of words, though there seemed to be a certain bite to it that almost reminded the wookiee of some haughty Core World nobles - almost his favorite prey to torture after trandoshans. What was she in the past? He offered a few guttural words in turn to the once-sephi, which T4-U2 quickly translated.

"The captain says that is most wise of you..."

With the 'guards' now fully departed, the trio came to face a door, to which the wookiee pulled out an access card from his bandoleer before inserting it into the card reader. The door slid open to reveal a fairly sparse sitting room. A couple of duraplas chairs haphazardly arranged around a pop-up card table that had seen many nights of sabacc and other games over their latest voyage. The wookiee gestured for Lirka to take a seat, even as he himself did so. Almost true to his programming, T4-U2 promptly retrieved a gaudy refreshment tray that they had plundered from a Coreward bound passenger liner several weeks ago. Almost miraculously, the tray had managed to retain most of its glasses and other accoutrements, though the actual food and drink had since been replaced with more common fare. The wookiee grabbed a glass of amber-colored liquid from the tray before the droid could even set the tray down and offered a few short phrases before taking a big gulp from the cup.

"Let's get down to business," translated the droid, "what are you looking for?"

 

[Lirka Ka]

She dully addressed the droid

"I'm glad he thinks so."

Lirka entered the room, quickly surveying it for anything of particular note: she saw nothing quite so exciting and simply followed the wookiee to the seats. She eyed the chair for a few moments, it didn't take a genius to guess that she was making a quick check that it could hold her weight, a Power Suit was anything but light. But taking some care as she sat down, she was pleasantly surprised for the thing not to simply fall apart under the weight of the metal suit. As the droid approached with drink, she raised a palm so as to refuse. Lirka hadn't removed her helmet in front of another being for well over a decade now, and in her current decayed state, she had no intention of changing that today. Suitably unsurprised by the Wookiees ability to drink, she leaned forward at his mention of business. Now it was time to try and actually work her "charm", or whatever remained of it.

"The Galaxy is ripe for plunder, but I am but one humble soul. And one person can only do so much."

She paused for a moment, that blank-faced helmet starring at Lofdrrl for a time while the Sephi pondered.

"But, I must ask a question of you. What is mercy, good Captain?"

Leave it to a Sephi to be melodramatic

 

[Lofdrrl]

Mercy?

The wookiee glanced at his glass and briefly pondered simply dashing it onto the floor for melodramatic effect. What was this being toying with? He wasn't a priest of any sort nor a philospher. Yet it could be a telling question - and almost certainly a test of some sort. His anger at being tested was only buffered by her apparent admission that she was working alone. He blinked as he remembered those todays himself. That had been tough - with no-one to watch your back while you slept...or without someone around to take the fall. he began to lightly grumble, which T4-U2 translated as immediately.

"Mercy is a false hope," started the droid, "a lure with which to ensnare some weak-willed prey; and a forlorn hope to those stronger. There is no true mercy in this galaxy. Everyone gets their cut in one way or another. It's a matter of how much cut it will be. You are not looking for mercy now, are you? You do not strike me as that type."

Lofdrrl watched Lirka Ka closely - interested in just how she'd respond in kind.

 

[Lirka Ka]

There was a silence, Lirka stared back at him unmoving and unflinching. She was like a droid processing a string of information, but it was short lived before the monster slapped a clawed gauntlet on the table

And laughed

It was a cold laugh, almost forced with a hint of cruelty behind it. The sound that came out of the distorter in her helm was a ghastly thing. After allowing herself the small outburst, Lirka composed herself once again. She did little to hide her pleasure.

“Then you understand as I do, good. There is no mercy, it is merely the test which weeds the mighty from the meek and unworthy of the Galaxy.”

While Lofdrrl may not have been a philosopher, Lirka most certainly considered herself one. Her twisted faith ferried her across the stars, leading to greater acts of evil as she went.

“This galaxy is chaos, you have seen it as well as I. A handful empires spring up and thrash amongst each other, confined to their territory like fools: war has given us opportunity, the eyes of those in power glance over people like us, they glance over the backwaters, the planets lost in the chaos.”

She leaned forward as she talked, Lirka tried to hide much of herself: as was evident. But there was a passion in her voice now, a wicked resolve in the words she spoke.

“There is more to be gained than profit, though there are credits and resources ripe for our taking abundant: there are thousands of worlds, trillions of people, and who knows how many million lost souls in the muck, lost souls with nowhere to turn and nothing to lose: the lost and the damned, ripe to find purpose as marauders among the void.”

She paused, ever so briefly before continuing.

“I am not here to ask for your subservience, nor even your friendship. I am here to ask you to walk this path of purpose, I need people like you and your crew in the days to come: keep whatever you take if you do accept my offer, it matters not to me. I merely need you to come and assist in this path to infamy when needed, someone I can call upon.”

 

[Lofdrrl]

Lofdrrl nodded at Lirka Ka as he drunk. She's an unusual one. The wookiee had occasionally met other pirate leaders and independent spacers - typically at shadowports with an understanding of keeping conflict between patrons to a minimum. There were rarely ones that he met outside of such environs, and those who did pretty quickly fell into either being his lessers who he could dominate and frequently impressed into his crew, or greaters adversaries who he had to play around with very carefully. This one was unusual in that the wookiee that she probably was probably his equal in many respects. He grumbled in low tones as he set his cup down, which the droid helpfully translated once more.

"Chaos does give us opportunities, and there certainly is enough chaos and opportunities. But some opportunities...paths...are more worthwhile than others. Call upon me with a good opportunity, and me and my crew will be there."